LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – It’s not
something teams like to make a habit of, but Team Freedom seemed
completely comfortable playing from behind on day two of the
Champion Girls’ All-American Showcase, a US Lacrosse event.
Freedom rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the morning to beat Liberty
20-8, and then came back from a 9-4 hole against Pride to win 14-13
in the afternoon.

The wins wrapped up a 3-0 record in pool play for Freedom and a
trip to Tuesday’s championship game against Liberty (2-1) at
1 p.m. The game will shown live on www.espn3.com. Pride (1-2) and
Spirit (0-3) will meet in the bronze medal game at 9:30 a.m.

Led by Northwestern recruit Christian Esposito (West Babylon HS,
N.Y.), Pride seem like it was headed to the championship after
jumping out to a 9-4 lead late in the first half against Freedom on
Monday afternoon, but Freedom responded with three goals in the
final two minutes of the first half, and then scored the first five
goals of the second half. All told, Pride went more than 15 minutes
without a goal as it watched its 9-4 lead turn into a 12-9
deficit.

Still, Pride rebounded with three straight of its own to tie it
12-12 and tied it for the final time at 13-13 on a goal by Amanda
Johansen with 5:19 left. Two minutes later, Freedom’s Kelci
Smesko scored to give Freedom a 14-13 advantage. Pride had two more
chances to tie it and force overtime, but Esposito was carded for
dangerous propelling with 1:30 to play, and then a free position
chance was denied in the final 10 seconds as Pride could not get
off a good shot.

Tyler Thomas, a Florida high school product from Lake Highland
Prep headed to nearby Rollins, led Freedom with three goals and
Smesko, Aislinn Probst, Madison Acton and Adrienne Anderson all
added two each. Esposito led Pride with three goals and two assists
while Hannah Saris and Jennifer Thompson each added two goals.
Pride goalies Julia DiTondo and Katrina Reeves combined to make 11
saves.

Freedom will meet Liberty in the final. Liberty lost a 5-1 lead
in its 20-8 defeat to Freedom in the morning, but bounced back to
beat Spirit 20-17 in a weather-shortened game in the afternoon to
advance to the championship.

In the win over Spirit, Emma Lazaroff continued a strong
showcase with four goals and two assists to lead a balanced scoring
effort by Team Liberty. Lazaroff, bound for Duke in the fall,
assisted on two of Liberty’s first three goals, and she
scored three of her team’s final four in the second half to
finally put away a pesky Spirit squad.

“One thing that’s tricky with these types of events
is that we’re all learning each other’s styles,”
said Abby Mead, one of the Liberty team coaches. “Every game
out we’re playing more as a team. Every game has its moments,
its ebbs and its flows. We’ve been learning about each other
fairly quickly. Our chemistry has improved, so that when we hit
those obstacles, we’ve been able to work through them
together.”

Spirit was led by Michaela Michael (Menlo, Calif.), a rising
senior who’s committed to the University of Southern
California’s new varsity program. Michael proved nearly
unstoppable, using her height to win several draw controls and
athleticism to score six goals and hand out two assists. She scored
consecutive goals late in the first half to pull Spirit within 9-8,
then led her squad’s final rally with three straight in the
second half. Her conversion of a Kelsey Murray (2g, 3a) feed at
6:30 brought Spirit within two for the last time before Lazaroff
and Liberty salted the game away.

Earlier in the day, Freedom scored eight straight goals over a
span of 11 minutes to erase a 5-1 hole on the way to a 20-8 win
over Liberty. After taking a 10-6 halftime lead, Freedom
continued to pour it on the second half, with Aislinn Probst
leading the way. The rising senior from Broadneck (Md.) High School
who has committed to Navy, had a game-high five goals and added two
assists. Freedom scored the first six goals of the second half.

Kelci Smesko added four goals for Freedom and Madison Acton and
Carly Palmucci added three each. Emma Lazaroff led Liberty with a
goal and an assist and Madalyn Blakeman had two assists.

Pride earned its only win so far with a 19-11 win over Spirit in
the morning. Cortney Fortunato scored three goals and added three
assists to lead a balanced attack for the Pride. Spirit led by a
3-2 score 10 minutes into the game, but Pride then scored five
straight goals, with Fortunato getting a goal and two assists
during the run, to pull away. Hannah Saris, Stephanie Toy and
Gabriella Starkey all added three goals for Pride as well. Julia
Ditondo and Katrina Reeves combed for 10 saves in goal for
Pride.

Kristina Coppolino and Dene DiMartino led Spirit with three
goals each while Alyssa Saxon made a team-high seven saves.